Details of Detroit police chief's divorce in court records

Ralph Godbee suspended for investigation into relationship with subordinate officer

Published On: Oct 03 2012 02:51:40 PM EDT   Updated On: Oct 03 2012 06:41:42 PM EDT
Angelica Robinson and Ralph Godbee
DETROIT -

For the second time in two years, a Detroit police chief is embroiled in a sex scandal.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing suspended Ralph Godbee on Tuesday from his $140,400-a-year job amid allegations that the married chief of police had a sexual relationship with a subordinate.

Godbee, 44, and Angelica Robinson, a 37-year-old internal affairs officer, had been conducting an affair that she said had run its course, Robinson told the Local 4 Defenders.

"I am not lying, and I know I'm not the only woman. I never was," Robinson said.

Bing fired Godbee's predecessor, Warren Evans, in 2010, partly because he was romantically involved with a female officer.

In the more recent case, Angelica Robinson posted a photo of herself with her service weapon in her mouth on the social media site Twitter after learning Godbee was at a weekend police conference with another woman.

Godbee divorcing from wife

Robinson is married but Godbee filed for divorce from his wife, Yolanda, in August, according to Wayne County court records. They were married in December of 1990.

Court records say the couple separated in April.

READ: Godbee divorce paperwork

The filing lists no reasons for the divorce filing other than a "breakdown of marriage relationship to the extent that the objects of matrimony have been dissolved and there remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved."

The couple has been separated since April.

Records show they were married in December 1990. The couple has a college-age daughter.

Godbee has been ordered to deposit funds into the couple's joint bank account to help pay the family's expenses. A preliminary mutual restraining order prevents either from transferring property and assets.

Previous police chief Evans also had relationship trouble

Bing appointed former Wayne County sheriff Warren Evans as police chief in 2009 but fired him after he took part in a promotional video for a cable police reality show. Bing later said he also fired Evans because the chief was romantically involved with Lt. Monique Patterson.

Evans with monique

--Evans and Patterson

Godbee also had a romantic relationship with Patterson before she began dating Evans and when she was Godbee's subordinate.

The relationship between Godbee and Patterson was made public after Godbee was named interim chief. Bing subsequently issued a statement insisting he wouldn't fire Godbee for having an affair with a subordinate.

Police chief, mayor under fire for city's situation

Godbee and Bing have been assailed by officers in recent weeks over a 10 percent pay cut and implementation of 12-hour workdays to help cut millions of dollars from the police budget. Officers complain the cuts and new work rules are too much to take in a city with one of the highest violent crime rates in the country.

The 287 murders were committed through Sept. 23 in Detroit — 26 more than at the same point last year.

Godbee, 44, joined the department in 1987 and rose to assistant chief in 2007. He later retired only to be reappointed assistant chief in July 2009 when Evans was hired.